Scientists warn of links between soil pollution and heart disease

Pesticides and heavy metals in soil may have detrimental effects on the cardiovascular system, according to a review paper published today in Cardiovascular Research, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Adolescents more vulnerable than adults to cannabis addiction, but not other mental health risks

Adolescents are over three times more vulnerable to developing a cannabis addiction than adults, but may not be at increased risk of other mental health problems related to the drug, finds a new study led by UCL and King's College London researchers.

COVID-19 vaccine protects people of all body weights from hospitalization and death, shows study of 9 million adults

COVID-19 vaccines have greatly reduced the number of cases of severe COVID-19 disease for everyone regardless of their body size, according to a new study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Vaccine effectiveness was similar for those with a higher BMI and of a healthy weight, but slightly lower in the underweight group, who were also the least likely to have been vaccinated.

The art of getting DNA out of decades-old pickled snakes

Two levels underground, Chicago's Field Museum has a secret bunker. The sub-basement Collections Resource Center houses millions of biological specimens for scientists around the world to use in their research, including countless bottles and jars containing pickled fish, lizards, and snakes, arranged like a library. Many of these specimens are decades or even centuries old, near-perfectly preserved by a combination of formalin and alcohol. But the process that preserves tissues often destroys or at least makes acquiring DNA for modern studies very difficult, which is bad news for scientists who study genetic relationships between organisms. A new study in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, however, reveals new approaches for getting and maximizing usable DNA from decades-old pickled specimens, and uses these techniques to solve a long-standing mystery about a small snake from the island of Borneo.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-science-news/the-art-of-getting-dna-out-of-decades-old-pickled-snakes